Title:Phytochemicals as Adjunctive with Conventional Anticancer Therapies
Volume: 22
Issue: 27
Author(s): Mohammad Hosein Farzaei, Roodabeh Bahramsoltani and Roja Rahimi
Affiliation:
Keywords:
Neoplasia, antineoplastic, radiotherapy, chemotherapeutic, phytochemical, medicinal plant, cancer, natural product,
herbal compound.
Abstract: Background: Cancer is defined as the abnormal proliferations of cells which
could occur in any tissue and can cause life-threatening malignancies with high financial
costs for both patients and health care system. Plant-derived secondary metabolites are
shown to have positive role in various diseases and conditions. The aim of the present study
is to summarize clinical evidences on the benefits of phytochemicals as adjuvant therapy
along with conventional anticancer therapies. Methods: Electronic databases including Pubmed,
Scopus and Cochrane library were searched with the keywords “chemotherapeutic”,
“anticancer”, “antineoplastic” or “radiotherapy” with “plant”, “extract”, “herb”, or “phytochemical”,
until July 2015. Only clinical studies were included in this review. Results: The
findings showed that positive effects of phytochemicals are due to their direct anticarcinogenic
activity, induction of relief in cancer complications, as well as their protective
role against side effects of conventional chemotherapeutic agents. Results obtained from
current review demonstrated that numerous phytochemical agents from different chemical categories including
alkaloid, benzopyran, coumarin, carotenoid, diarylheptanoid, flavonoid, indole, polysaccharide, protein, stilbene,
terpene, and xanthonoid possess therapeutic effect in patients with different types of cancer. Polyphenols are the
most studied components. Curcumin, ginsenosides, lycopene, homoharringtonine, aviscumine, and resveratrol are
amongst the major components with remarkable volumes of clinical evidence indicating their direct anticancer
activities in different types of cancer including hepatocarcinoma, prostate cancer, leukemia and lymphoma, breast
and ovarian cancer, and gastrointestinal cancers. Cannabinoids, cumarin, curcumin, ginsenosides, epigallocatechin
gallate, vitexin, and salidroside are phytochemicals with significant alleviative effect on synthetic chemotherapy-
induced toxicities. Conclusion: There is lack of evidence from clinical trials in case of a large number of
phytochemicals and further human studies are recommended to confirm the role of plant metabolites in the management
of cancer.
